ARTICLES ABOUT IMMUNE SYSTEM BY DATE - PAGE 2

Question: I was reading a story in the newspaper that the British Medical Journal has accused Roche Pharmaceuticals of failing to provide full access to the research data on Tamiflu. The article said there's really no evidence that Tamiflu can actually stop the flu. Do you agree? Do you recommend that people still take it if they have the flu? Answer: Even if the antiviral treatment for flu works as stated, it only reduces the duration of symptoms in adults (18 to 65) by an average of 1.3 days; by just one day in folks over 65; and by roughly 36 hours in children.

In a sign of how far the science of cancer genomics has come, the University of Pennsylvania Health System will do genetic tests later this year on cancer cells of all patients with several types of cancer. Penn will test up to 48 genes in patients with melanoma, acute myelogenous leukemia, and brain and lung cancer, said Chi V. Dang, director of the Abramson Cancer Center. The results will reveal which patients could benefit from new drugs that work only for those with certain mutations.

RESEARCHERS have identified a mysterious new disease that has left scores of people in Asia and some in the United States with AIDS-like symptoms even though they are not infected with HIV. The patients' immune systems become damaged, leaving them unable to fend off germs, as healthy people do. What triggers this isn't known, but the disease does not seem to be contagious. This is another kind of acquired immune deficiency that is not inherited and occurs in adults, but doesn't spread the way AIDS does through a virus, said Dr. Sarah Browne, a scientist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

An existing drug dramatically reduced the most serious complications of bone marrow transplants, University of Pennsylvania researchers are reporting Thursday. The finding could someday point the way toward an entirely new method of preventing the body from "rejecting" transplanted organs of all kinds in the future, experts said. The work demonstrates a possible new approach to transplants of donated bone marrow, said Joseph Antin, a professor of medicine at Harvard, who was not involved with the study.

An existing drug dramatically reduced the most serious complications of bone marrow transplants, University of Pennsylvania researchers are reporting Thursday. The finding could someday point the way toward an entirely new method of preventing the body from "rejecting" transplanted organs of all kinds in the future, experts said. The work demonstrates a possible new approach to transplants of donated bone marrow, said Joseph Antin, a professor of medicine at Harvard, who was not involved with the study.

Robert Ader, 79, an experimental psychologist who was among the first scientists to show how mental processes influence the body's immune system, a finding that changed modern medicine, died Dec. 20 in Pittsford, N.Y. His death followed a long illness and complications of a fracture suffered in a fall, his daughter Deborah Ader said. Dr. Ader, who spent his entire career as a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, conducted some of the original experiments in a field he named himself, psychoneuroimmunology.

IT WAS the day she had longed to see, one that for years seemed likely to elude her as she battled cystic fibrosis. But Ashley Owens had just received a double-lung transplant, in November 2009. The organs had been donated by a young boxer, Francisco "Paco" Rodriquez, who had died of head injuries at the Blue Horizon. The operation gave her the ability to breathe again without obstruction and enabled her last June 25 to walk down the aisle and exchange vows with Jesse Quinter at Blue Falls Grove in Reading.

NEW YORK - Ralph Steinman, a pioneer in understanding how cells fight disease, tried to help his own immune system thwart his pancreatic cancer. Steinman survived until Friday. Three days later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine. The Nobel committee, unaware of his death, announced the award Monday in Stockholm. Steinman's employer, Rockefeller University in New York, learned of his death after the Nobel announcement. Steinman's wife, Claudia, said the family had planned to disclose his death Monday - only to discover an e-mail to his cellphone from the Nobel committee.